Reproduce
Earth Sanctuary Regenerate
** This post comes with a massive trigger warning: there are discussions of various forms of harm against children. **
Everything I’ve written about in this post also applies to animals. We can use the words “children” and “animals” interchangeably.The final section of this post, “Nebula”, has a list of resources for survivors and advocates.
What Does It Mean to Honor the Next Generations?
This question unfolds exponentially for me as I spend more time building community, especially with children.
As I come to recognize my own vulnerabilities, and as I come to be in community with vulnerable people, I think often about what it means to be a safe person.
Most people I meet think of themselves as a safe person, trustworthy at the least.
And most of these same people like to think they have a good grasp on what they can provide others in terms of security and where their lapses are in judgement.
But in my personal experience, most people are wrong about their assessments of themselves.
While solid intentions can make for good vibes, intentions and vibes don’t actually create security culture.
Because children are the most oppressed group of people on our planet right now, the necessity for a safe and secure society is truly a dire issue.
Magnetosphere
From this realization, I’ve come understand the necessity to outline my own personal code.
What are my ethics? Biases? How do I investigate and hold nuance?
To say what we mean. To mean what we say. This is about sincerity to build trust.
To do as we say, and to say as we do. This is about discipline to build integrity.
But without the courage to hold ourselves and others accountable for causing harm, it becomes easy to slip into silence and inaction.
Because if we aren’t saying anything, then we don’t have to mean anything, and then we also don’t have to do anything.
Without the courage to move ourselves and our spheres of influence toward eliminating harm- we only end up as passive catalysts for its continuation.
In fact, all people who harm / exploit others absolutely rely on the ignorance, inaction, and silence of everyone around them.
Or worse: they rely on others enjoyment or participation with their harm / exploitation.
So, what does it mean to be a safe person?
Plasma
There are facets of Indigenous traditional knowledge that I find scattered through settler societies.
Often, settlers learn these lessons the hard way.
I found one of these lessons in a T.V. series called “Edge of Alaska”.
In this series one of the protagonists (settler. he/him) describes how he learns from the animals around him in order to survive some of the fiercest apex predators in rural Alaska.
He tells a story about how he learned the hard way that wolves were keeping a vigilant eye on his homestead settlement.
One winter day, he had taken his dogs for a sled run through the woods when one of the links snapped and the dogs ran off before he could call them back.
After a few hours searching for his dog sled team, he found most of his dog team still tethered together.
One of his dogs was missing, having broken away from the rest of the team completely.
After a few more hours of searching, he was losing daylight and still needed to get his sled back home.
By the time he got home, however, his wife came running out of the house screaming!
He ran into the yard and realized what happened:
a wolf had gotten past his perimeter fence (!)
past the secondary gate (!!)
into the front yard (!!!)
remained out of his wife’s line of site (!!!!)
and laid his dead dog next to his 1 y.o. son’s toys. (!!!!!)
Even though he had been settled in Alaska for years, it took until that moment to realize that the wolves had been watching him AND his family.
Closely.
The message was clear: his presence in their territories is tolerated. His passage through their lands is monitored. He is allotted a portion of the hunt.
But the wonton gallivanting of his pack without direction or cohesion is strictly prohibited.
To be allowed to even keep his farm animals was mercy.
It is in these hard lessons where he realizes that it was his responsibility to learn from these apex predators how to listen, communicate, respond, and adapt.
Of course, in most Indigenous teachings, animals are viewed as extended family or elder siblings. They are also respected as teachers.
Even though their lessons may feel harsh and abrasive, animals teach us how to survive and co-inhabit on Earth.
Solar Wind
As someone who is a former xtian, deconstructing objective morality claims has been years in the making.
This is often a frustrating task. To move away from objective morality claims means I needed to wrestle with subjective relativity.
And when it comes to the safety of children, there is no room for negotiation.
This is why I operate in terms of harm reduction, accountability, (informed) consent, and body autonomy instead.
It is true; each of us has our own idea of what is our ‘moral compass’. But, in all reality, we all have different ideas on what is right, just, and appropriate behavior.
And we DEFINITELY each have our own ideas on what is appropriate behavior toward children specifically.
This is about leveraging yourself (read: your intersection) as a catalyst for harm reduction.
To maintain that accountability is restitution for harms suffered.
To build your own capacity to cut through subjective notions like “right / wrong / good / bad” in order to build sustainable human systems.
******* Trigger Warning *******
Whether p*dophilic tendencies are masqueraded as “cultural” or “traditional” is as subjective as it is irrelevant.
It is irrelevant to me if p*dophiles have a unique neuropatterning that causes their inclinations toward children.
I don’t care to debate whether or not child marriages are “right” or “wrong” in any given time in history or the present.
I am not here to argue with anyone about whether or not child predators are “good” or “bad” people.
We already know CSA causes harm. We have this data from too many societies around the globe.
How?
Because people come forward and share their experiences.
Because people who have lived these experiences can be observed.
We can identify the way trauma imprints onto the nervous system.
Because we can track the impacts of this behavior across both time and space.
This data is
freely available,
peer-reviewed,
developed through consensus,
driving collective action,
toward achievable harm reduction and elimination
with reportable outcomes
We are already measuring harm around these activities.
So I give myself permission to skip over any and all discussions on whether or not people attracted to children are “bad”, “wrong”, “normal”, “historical”, or “relative”.
I don’t care about who these individuals are as people.
I don’t care about how many in number, or how long human predators have been on the planet.
I care about holding them accountable for what they DO.
Stellar Wind
This is what apex predators teach us: how to activate our own senses.
To entrain and rely on our body, our nervous systems, to clue us into what lurks beneath the mask. The face.
To recognize predatory cues/behaviors and directly confront predatory archetypes in all of their forms (human and non-human alike).
This is what it means to release resentment, disdain, or even hatred in order to cut to the heart of a matter and act decisively.
Each human collective has their own unique ways of understanding the planet and navigating the world.
We each have our own standards of what is acceptable and what is unacceptable.
This is why efforts to make universal morality claims tend to fall apart; because it is too easy to get derailed in discussion / debate.
This is also why we, each of us, need to establish our own set of guiding principles.
What are your personal activations? How are you cultivating security culture?
Interstellar Medium
****** Trigger Warning ******
While many people abhor the idea of the sexualization of children, there are too many other people who find this behavior acceptable.
In fact, there is a laundry list of organizations who advocate to normalize sexual relations between adults and children and between children and other children.
A handful of these organizations claim p*dophilia (and related attractions) should be normalized as part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
And there are even more societies where full grown adults still marry children.
While it’s beyond frustrating that these groups even exist, the ones who really chap my ass are the folks who find their own ways to normalize p*dophelic behavior, past or present.
“That’s just how it was back in those day.”
“Everyone matures differently.”
“Every culture needs to be respected.”
“We can’t impose our own values on someone else’s traditions.”
“[insert holy text here]”
“Who are you to say that another culture is wrong?”
Trust me. I’ve heard it all before.
And I’ve also had my fair share of spinning my wheels on philbro’s (philosophy bro’s.) who believe it is their entire destiny to play devil’s advocate for every conversation.
The majority of people I meet, however, are either completely unaware they are perpetuating the sexualization of children, OR they view their own actions specifically as harmless.
Calling a child one’s “little boyfriend / girlfriend.”
Forcing children to hug someone just because this person is old or a relative.
Not asking permission before touching a child.
Hell, even forcing kids to eat things because “there are hungry children somewhere else…”
These are the not-so-subtle ways child autonomy is routinely violated and the ability of children to have their own sense of self becomes compromised.
This is what I mean about human predators relying on the ignorance, silence, and/ or inaction of others to perpetuate harm themselves.
Their actions don’t exist in a social vacuum; there is a global trend of collective apathy toward violence against children.
Why is so much concerted effort necessary? Answer: The predation of children is a team sport.
But that is slowly and radically changing.
In fact, 2024 broke the Guiness Book of World Records re: massive convening of governments, organizations, and individuals committed to end violence against children globally.
Nebula
RESOURCE LIST HERE
Where is your pack?
What are your own codes of ethics? Do you externalize this code?
How do you reconcile consent, transparency, security, and confidentiality?
How do you investigate your own intentions?
What does consent and bodily autonomy mean to you?
How do you know that any of your personal standards are in alignment with other proven methods of harm reduction / elimination?
These are the kinds of questions I ask myself as I forge my own Creed.
It is my fortune to become a member of the Brave Movement.
This is global network of survivors, allies, and organizations united by one mission: to end childhood sexual violence everywhere, for every child and adolescent.
Here are some of their website highlights:
Healing and Safety
A compilation of resources to help you understand the basics of self-care, healing, and safety.
A list of contact information for emergency services.
This self-guided healing platform was created to aid survivors in their healing journeys.
You are invited to explore your healing through three healing approaches MIND, BODY and INTEGRATIVE.
Campaigns
“Beyond the Screen: Hidden Voices of Online Abuse”
A survivor-centered short film highlighting the prevalence of online sexual violence around the world.
Abolishing Statutes of Limitations
A petition with plenty of social media links to share! Please consider signing!
Accomplishment
First Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children
This first global conference broke the Guiness Book of World Records on the number of countries who showed up to pledge to end violence against children.
Learn More
It is my sincerest hope that more people come to join networks like the Brave Movement.
It is my undying wish that each of us take responsibility for ourselves; our bodies, our minds, our intentions, our will, and our deeds.
To move toward an integrated sense of Self that is connected to our Inner Child.
To develop our own personal code of conduct, and govern ourselves with integrity.
Earth Sanctuary is my response to end violence against children and animals whenever and wherever it occurs.
I am educating myself with the resources I’ve listed here, listening to survivors, and taking care of myself as a survivor.
I am here on Earth to be ME
to the fullest extent possible.
In this way, I make my own contributions to heal the fractures within humanity
so that the planet may thrive.
“There’s only one way to deal with a predator. You show them where the line is, and you show them what is your own course of action.”